Chippewas rebound, grill Bulls

The Chippewas got both on Sunday in posting a 26-9 Mid-American Conference dual-meet victory over Buffalo at McGuirk.

The win lifted CMU to 6-4, 3-1 MAC and it came two days after the 17th-ranked Chippewas fell at home to third-ranked Missouri, 29-6. The Bulls are 5-7, 2-3.

“I know we were really disappointed on Friday,” CMU coach Tom Borrelli said. “We wrestled a good team on Friday, you can’t take anything away from them, but we’re better than that. We talked about that in the locker room after the match, not to lose any confidence. WE’ve got another shot at them later on, at home (in the MAC Championships).

“I’m glad to see the way our guys responded.”

Sunday’s dual marked the return of veteran Colin Heffernan to the Chippewa lineup. The senior 157-pounder last wrestled on Dec. 1 at the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational, where he injured a shoulder.

He posted an 11-4 win on Sunday against the Bulls, and his victory came in the fifth match of the meet after the Chippewas had dropped three of the first four matches to fall into a 9-3 deficit.

Heffernan’s win was the first of six consecutive CMU victories.

“I sat for five or six duals and it was hard to watch those duals, not be a part of the team,” said Heffernan, who recorded five takedowns in his match. “I think there was a little rust. Any time you take the amount of time as I did off the mat you’ve got to figure out some things, get back in the swing of things.

“But as far as my shoulder, it felt good. I think I could work on my conditioning a little bit. Getting rid of the that rust will just come with time. The more times I compete, the more times I get out there, the more practice I get under my belt, the more that that rust will go away and I’ll be where I want to be.”

The Chippewas got major-decision wins from Logan Parks (165) and CJ Brucki (174), and a pin from redshirt freshman Matt Stencel at 285. CMU’s Jordan Ellingwood (184), Mason Smith (141) and Jordan Atienza (197) came close to majors. The margin of victory for both Ellingwood and Smith was seven points, and for Atienza it was six.

“The older guys in our lineup, our veteran guys, the last six matches we were real close to getting bonus points in all six of those matches,” Borrelli said.

The Chippewas wrestled without junior Justin Oliver (149), who was injured in his 3-1 loss to Missouri on Friday.

Freshman Nolan Saxton got the call in place of Oliver. It was the first dual appearance for Saxton, who entered the meet 14-6, with all of his competition prior to Sunday coming in open tournaments. He dropped a 6-3 decision.

Just as the Chippewas were forced to adjust when Heffernan - redshirt freshman Blake Montrie filled in admirably -- was sidelined, they will have to make do without Oliver, at least for the foreseeable future.

The loss of Oliver, who is ranked third nationally and was an All-American as a freshman, will leave the Chippewas largely inexperienced at the lower weights with Saxton, a freshman, and redshirt freshmen Drew Hildebrandt (125) and Dresden Simon (133) holding down those spots.

“Not taking anything away from Blake Montrie, I think he really improved a lot during that time (that Oliver was out),” Borrelli said. “The same with Nolan Saxton. He’s going to wrestle for a while for us here until we get Justin back and he’s going to grow a lot.

“It’s the same thing with Drew and Dresden. I don’t know if we were expecting them to be our starters this year. ... They’re trying to grow and figure this college thing out. It’s not easy for freshmen.”